RTW Sales 3rd behind The Sims

[Thoros of Myr]

From what I have seen the masses are eating RTW up, it's quite popular among the mainstream crowd. Good for CA and for us becuase good sales usually translate to better post-release support/patches...and the likelyhood of a great big expansion ofcourse :)

[Colovion]

I hope that RTW gets the same kind of popularity as the Age of... Series - they basically stayed in the top 10 for over a year. Now that's sales staying power.

[Basileus]

Thats good news for the franchise, im preety sure CA and its employes are very proud of them selfs..now lets bring those patches out and start finishing the exp :p

[Spino]

Well technically Rome Total War qualifies as being number 2 on the list simply because Sims 2 Special Edition can hardly be considered a different beast from the plain vanilla version.

But Sims 2? Bah! As far as I'm concerned the Sims 2 doesn't even count. Sims 2 outselling Rome Total War is akin to when some populist piece of garbage movie outperforms a cinematic masterpiece at the box office. Sure the former will always outperform the latter in overall sales but years from now who is going recall 'gems' like Independence Day as being an all time classic? For me, Rome Total War is the gaming equivalent of Lawrence of Arabia. Admittedly, both have their rough spots but the long stretches of glorious business in between those spots is something to savor for all time.

Kudos to CA. Well done!

[Lemur]

Sims 2 outselling Rome Total War is akin to when some populist piece of garbage movie outperforms a cinematic masterpiece at the box office. Sure the former will always outperform the latter in overall sales but years from now who is going recall 'gems' like Independence Day as being an all time classic?

There's a very important difference between a great film and a great game: The film can still make money 30 years later, with little or no changes. Certainly there's no need to go back and re-shoot the flick; at most one has to re-master and transfer.

With computer games, on the other hand, there's no real way for a classic to make money 30 years on. People probably can't run the game at that late date. Sure, we all may have fond memories of Sid Meier's Pirates!, but there's nobody buying it today, so it's not making any money for anyone. And even if you could find a copy, the odds are good you wouldn't be able to run it.

So game companies can't relax and count on brilliant classics -- they have to make their money Right Now, or forever hold their peace. The prevalence of warez makes this even more urgent. Making a classic is great for their rep, and it builds loyalty and buzz, but it means zilch to their bottom line after the first couple of years of sales.

With other art forms there is a defined and proven way to make money from classics. With computer games, the closest analogy is when a company re-makes an old title, which involves more work than making the original. Witness Doom 3 and the upcoming re-hash of Pirates. They're not dusting off a classic and putting a voice commentary on the DVD, they're literally re-engineering from the ground up.

Frankly, I'm glad CA is raking in the bucks, and I disagree with posters who think this will turn them into tawdry corporate shills who ignore quality and support. Money can do a lot of things to a company, but as Blizzard demonstrated in its day, moulah doesn't have to make you an uncaring sleazebag.

[barvaz]

From what I have seen the masses are eating RTW up, it's quite popular among the mainstream crowd. Good for CA and for us becuase good sales usually translate to better post-release support/patches...and the likelyhood of a great big expansion ofcourse :)

Actually, I think it is the opposite. Why would Activision invest so much money in developing, testing and distributing patches for a game that sells well and gets great reviews anyway? Especially if it is appealing to the “masses”, which really don’t care if the AI is not so bright, the game has historical errors, the killing rate is too high and your archers kill twice of your troops than the enemy’s.

No, I am not wishing for RTW to fail financially, I really care about the Total War series. I am just saying that the sad and inevitable truth is that as far as Activision is concerned, CA should be working on the next expansion or title in the series full time and not wasting time to please a minority of hardcore fans.

Don’t expect miracles from the patches...

- barvaz

[Blodrast]

Barvaz, what you're saying does make sense, and I haven't as yet been able to formulate my own opinion one way or the other, but I'll give you an example that contradicts (I think) your claim: Diablo and Blizzard. They kept coming up with patches and fixes for years after the game was released, and I'm pretty sure that the reason for that is that the game still sells and it's been a great hit...